Mangalore: Ramanath Rai's Days as Congress District Chief Numbered ?
Political Correspondent - Daijiworld Media Network
Mangalore, Jun 30: Many think Ramanath Rai is the most eligible candidate to head the Dakshina Kannada district Congress Committee. He is experienced, has been loyal to the party, won several elections for it and has friends and supporters everywhere. However, after the Congress debacle in the recent Lok Sabha election in the form of Janardhan Poojary, fierce interactions are taking place and Rai’s credence has taken a beating. The recent visit of the state working president of the party D K Shivakumar and his statement that dormant leaders, irrespective of their seniority, would be shown the door and sincere party workers would be accommodated in responsible positions, has given rise to a fresh wave of activities to nudge Rai out of the seat.
It may be recalled, that at the introspection meeting of the party held here on May 31, senior leaders Vinay Kumar Sorake, P V Mohan and others had directly blamed Rai for Poojary's defeat and asked him to shoulder the entire responsibility for the debacle of the party. They had reportedly said, that Poojary was endorsed by all the block Congress units in the district unanimously and that Poojary’s success was assured but for lack of any enthusiasm on the part of the district president.
An operation to unseat Rai seems to have been brewing within the party ranks since some time. As soon as the Congress Party failed to push its candidate as the president of Bantwal taluk panchayat in a high drama in which one of the Congress taluk panchayat members alleged that she was kept under house arrest, fingers were raised at Bondala Jagannath Shetty and Ramanath Rai. In a press conference held later, zilla panchayat member G Sadanand Malli had accused Rai of dividing the district Congress workers into Moily and Poojary factions and blocking the growth of younger leaders by refusing to allot them tickets in various elections.
Winning Lok Sabha candidate from the BJP, Nalin Kumar Kateel had, in his thanksgiving address on May 24, had thanked congress MLAs Ramanath Rai and Abhaychandra Jain too, along with many others, for his victory. This remark unexpectedly opened a can of worms, with various Congress leaders seeking an explanation from Rai to come out clean. Rai and Jain held a press conference later in which they accused Kateel of unnecessarily dragging their name and creating a controversy.
The hopes of many young leaders to go up the ranks have been kindled by Shivakumar's encouraging words. A slow but sure demand to replace Rai, is gaining ground everywhere and it might soon reach the proportions of a crescendo. Several senior leaders are understood to have clearly told Shivakumar that as a first step to infuse life into the beleaguered district Congress, Rai should be replaced with a more enthusiastic leader, who is not faction-ridden. Sorake reportedly analyzed, that because of the ploy by the BJP, a rumour was spread that Poojary's victory was a forgone conclusion. As a result, Rai and the party activists had become complacent, resulting in the defeat of the party candidate, he told Shivakumar.
Vijay Kumar Shetty, former MLA, has already announced that he is a candidate for the district presidentship of the party. It is said, former zilla panchayat president Sadanand Poonja, Kallige Taranath Shetty, Ivan D'Souza, Ashwini Kumar Rai are in the list of aspirants. However, both Vijay Kumar Shetty and Kallige Taranath Shetty are identified with the Poojary faction and in all likelihood, people loyal to Moily may not support their candidatures. Many seem to be working behind the scenes, to unseat Rai.
Ramanath Rai is on a visit to USA as part of a state delegation. Signs are ominous for Rai and only a miracle might save him the presidentship of the district Congress committee!